Share via

From a poor family in Cuba, the ballet star has danced on stages around the world and also delved into writing and acting

Is he the most popular dancer in Britain? A budding film star? Or a promising
first-time novelist? Carlos Acosta, a man not afraid to reinvent himself
three times over, is all that and more.

As he parks his magnificently honed muscles into an office chair upstairs at
the Royal Opera House I meet his fourth incarnation — the man charged with
giving the Royal Ballet a new production of Don Quixote. Full-length
ballet stagings are a huge undertaking, expensive and risky, so it’s no
wonder that Acosta looks like a man under pressure.